Pipe for musical instruments



Feb. 27,1968

Filed Sept. 20, 1965 G. J. BEISECKER ETAL PIPE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 PT T C I f n5 1 Y W I "6 l3 I2 :22 0 ma FIG. 3 FIG. 4

INVENTORS GERH'ARD J. BEISECKER ROBERT M. FISCHER Feb. 27, 1968 G. J. BEIS'ECKER ETAL 9 PIPE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Sept. 20 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N TORS J. B SECKER SGHER United States Patent 3,370,499 PIPE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Gerhard J. Beisecker, 4670 Station Road, Erie, Pa.

16510, and Robert M. Fischer, Ridge Road, Valencia, Pa. 16059 Filed Sept. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 488,323 Claims. (Cl. 84-349) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention disclosed herein involves the use of an aluminum sheet rolled and cemented to form the body of an organ pipe. The foot, which is made from brass, copper or tin, is attached to the sleeve by means of a hollow cylinder C-shaped member and a lip adjusting means to adjust the sound from the pipe.

This invention relates to pipes for musical instruments and, more particularly, to organ pipes.

The use of aluminum for organ pipe construction has been hindered by the fact that aluminum cannot easily be soldered. The use of extruded aluminum tubing from stock sizesis also made impractical by the great variety of all thicknesses and diameters of pipes required for artistic reasons in organ pipe manufacture.

The present art of making organ pipes is based on century old techniques in which the metal is cast on flat, cloth covered surfaces and then cut to size and formed on mandrels into cylinders or cones. The process disclosed herein is based on the lamination of sheet aluminum into cylindrical form with appropriate adhesives. The cylinder thus formed may then be attached to a conventional pipe toe. The attaching may be done by means of a semicircular sleeve which is soldered to the top of a conventional lead lanquet and which snugly fits the internal dimensions of the resonating cylinder at that point. The bond is further strengthened by adhesives and, in some instances, pop rivets. The external juncture is further reinforced by the use of aluminum tape. To facilitate the positioning of the upper lip, a threaded wire is made to pass from the upper lip to the rear of the pipe. Its revolution by means of a hooked end or other type of knob makes possible an exact positioning of the upper lip relative to the wind stream issuing from the windway.

To add strength to the larger pipes without having an overly long joining sleeve, pop rivets are employed as shown. These rivets can also be used to afiix the ears on the pipes together.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial broken away view of another embodirnent of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a view of still another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is yet another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 shows how a clip may be attached to the resonator body through the use of rolls;

FIG. 7 is a view partly in cross section of another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is an end view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

Now with more particular reference to the drawings, the pipe shown in FIG. 1 has a resonator body 10 which is in the form of a hollow cylindrical pipe closed at the top in the conventional manner and open at the bottom. The pipe will have the upper lip 16 extending inwardly in a conventional manner as shown and the lip will be supported by the threaded wire lip adjustor 17 which has a head 24 and a peened surface 25 sandwiching the upper lip 16 between the peened surface 25 and the head 24. The wire has a nut 26 on the threaded portion thereof and this nut bears against the outside surface of the pipe to hold the threaded wire lip adjustor 17 and the upper lip 16 in tension and thereby reinforce it.

A foot 11 is in the form of a hollow inverted cone with a joining sleeve 13 in the form of a hollow sleeve made of brass, copper, tin, or other suitable material. The joining sleeve 13 is soldered to the lanquet 12 at 14 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The threaded wire lip adjustor 17 is used on larger sizes of pipes and need not be used on the smaller size.

The foot 11 may be in the form of a conventional foot familiar to those skilled in the art which provides a windway 19 as shown between the lanquet 12 and the lower lip 18.

The resonator body 10 is made of laminated aluminum which may be in the form of aluminum foil that could be coated on one side with a suitable adhesive and formed by wrapping it around a suitable mandrel. The laminations would thus be some adhesive such as epoxy or rubber base adhesive to afford an air tight and mechanically sound joint. Aluminum tape 22 having a pressure sensitive coating on one side may be employed and wrapped at the jointure to hold the resonator body 10 to the foot'll.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4, the resonator body has a lower portion and a joining sleeve 113 for adding additional length to the resonator body. The resonator body 110 has a flattened upper lip 116 which may be attached to a threaded lip adjustor wire 117 of the type shown in FIG. 4.

The lower portion 115 is attached to the foot 111 by means of an aluminum tape 122 and ears 123 are attached to the lower portion 115 and to the foot 111 by means of rivets 121. The rivets 121 may be of the pop rivet type.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5, the resonator body 210 is provided with an upper lip 216, a foot 211, and a lanquet 212 which may be supported to the sleeve A by soldering at the midway position as shown. When assembled, the resonator body 210 and the foot 211 are in contact with the sleeve A at such a position as to place the lanquet 212 at the proper height for voicing. The sleeve A may be supported in the resonator body and the foot by suitable adhesive and suitable tape may be used to hold the resonator body and foot together as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

The clip 217 shown in FIG. 5 is prepared by a conventional method with a bar folding tool made up of rolls 219 and 220 and placed over the bottom edge of the resonator body 210. A lip clip 218 may also be attached in a similar fashion. When the clips 217 and 218 are in place they may be adapted by the method shown in FIG. 6 whereby the resonator body is pressed to the clip by means of the upper roll 220 and lower roll 219.

The body 310 of the pipe shown in the embodiment of the invention in FIGS. 7 and 8 has a hollow cylindrical portion connected at a seam 314 by an extrusion which The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A pipe comprising a generally cylindrical hollow resonator body,

a hollow, generally conical foot,

means attaching the top of said conical foot to an open end of said resonator body,

and a lanquet in said pipe adjacent said conical foot,

said resonator body being made of laminated aluminum said resonator body comprising a joining sleeve in said body and coextensive with a part of the inner surface of said body attached to said lanquet and to said body.

2. An organ pipe comprising,

a lanquet and a foot,

a sheet of aluminum foil,

a part of said foil being coated with an adhesive and rolled to form a hollow cylinder,

said cylinder being attached to said foot,

a C-shaped joining sleeve,

said foot being attached to said hollow cylinder by said C-shaped sleeve,

said lanquet being fixed to said C-shaped sleeve,

one end of said C-shaped sleeve being disposed in said 4 hollow cylinder and the other end of said C-shaped sleeve insaid foot,

said C-shaped sleeve being fixed to said foot and to said cylindrical sleeve.

3. The pipe recited in claim 2 wherein a clip is provided in the form of a strip of sheet material,

said strip being bent back on itself with an end of said cylindrical member sandwiched therebetween,

-4. A pipe for a musical instrument comprising a hollow foot,

a hollow body made of a sheet of aluminum rolled and fixed together by means of an adhesive,

and a lanquet fixed to said foot,

a strip of sheet material is folded over the end of said cylindrical member adjacent said foot,

a C-shaped member in the form of a half a cylinder being inserted in said cylindrical member and into said foot and fixed thereto,

said pipe having a windway adjacent said lanquet.

5. A pipe for a musical instrument comprising a hollow foot,

a hollow body made of a sheet of aluminum rolled and fixed together by means of an adhesive,

and a lanquet fixed to said foot,

said pipe having a windway adjacent said lanquet,

said pipe having an upper lip,

a lip adjustor is attached to said cylindrical member and to said upper lip whereby a tension is maintained on said upper lip.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,458,382 6/1923 Barkst-rom 84349 1,676,942 7/1928 Cesar 84-349 3,319,506 5/1967 Beisecker 84349 FOREIGN PATENTS 119,966 1900 Germany.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

STEPHEN J. TOMSKY, Examiner.

G. H. MILLER, JR., Assistant Examiner. 

